Plant of the Month

[reiverix]

Welcome to the Plant of the Month section. Here we will focus on a particular plant each month and hopefully get your experiences with it. Or, if you are considering purchasing a certain plant then maybe this will help with your decision.

If you wish to submit an article on a plant we would like to keep the format similar. It should contain..

Name of Plant

Other Names :
Origin :
Growth Rate :
Planting Area :
Lighting Level:
Propagation:
Difficulty:
Temperature:
Size:
Availability:

And of course, a write up containing information about the species. It would be really helpful if you have actually kept the plant you are writing about and include any observations you have made. Photos are welcome but please only include photos that you took yourself or have permission to use. And remember, a plant does not have to be bright red, need CO2 and high light to be a great aquarium plant.

The long term objective here is to compile the articles into an html document to make it easy to navigate.

If we get lots of articles presented then we could turn this into a Plant of the Week or similar, since there are so many plants it would take years to put together.

So, I'll take the first shot at this with one of my favorites. Feel free to ask any questions about this plant or add some comments of your own. Shared information is always helpful.


John R

[reiverix]

Lobelia Cardinalis

Other Names : Scarlet Lobelia, Cardinal Plant, Cardinal Flower

Origin : North America

Growth Rate : Slow

Planting Area : Midground, Foreground

Lighting Level: Medium - High

Propagation: From cuttings and side shoots

Difficulty: Fairly easy

Temperature: 72-82 F

Size: 12-15 inches

Availability: Quite common


This plant has a thick stem and round fleshy leaves. Its slow growth and tolerance of a wide range of conditions make it an ideal plant for most aquariums. In larger tanks it makes a good foreground if planted in small groups. For smaller tanks it is best suited to the midground area. There is a dwarf form of this species available.

Lobelia usually grows in marshy conditions where the exposed leaves are green on the top and purple on the underside. In aquaria however, the leaves turn completely green and lose the purple coloration. If you have the opportunity to let the plant grow out of the water, the purple color will return and it will produce scarlet flowers.

My own experince with lobelia is that high light and CO2 really bring out the best in this plant. Under these conditions it will stay more compact and bushy. With lower light, lobelia tends to grow taller, has smaller leaves and has a larger interval between nodes. I also find that lobelia puts out side shoots by the hundreds. These are not like the usual shoots from other stem plants but are small and tight. This almost gives the plant a hairy appearance on the stem.